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April 13, 2019, 2:14 PM GMT

By F. Brinley Bruton and Ali Arouzi

The White House was looking to shake things up when it designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization.

It worked.

American terrorists killed in bombing, read a headline in Irans official Fars news agency, referring to an attack in Afghanistan that killed three U.S. servicemen. That came just a day afterthe Trump administration's announcement and represented a marked change in terminology by Tehran.

Iranian lawmakers dressed in military uniforms also chanted "Death to America" during an open session of Parliament on Tuesday. And according to the countrys Mehr news agency, Parliament passed an emergency bill requesting that countries that arrest U.S troops should hand them over to Iran to face trial as terrorists.

President Hassan Rouhani declared that the force's popularity would only surge in the wake of the designation, saying its members would be more "in the hearts of the Iranian nation" than at any other time in history.

The White Houses decision to put the powerful military unit with deep economic resources that answers only to the country's supreme leader in the same category as al Qaeda and the Islamic State group came a year after the Trump administration said it was withdrawing from the landmark Iran nuclear agreement.

Richard Nephew, a former director for Iran at the National Security Council who served as a member of the team who negotiated the 2015 deal, said President Donald Trump's decision to designate the Guard as terrorists would most likely make American operations in the region much more complicated.

If you have terrorists nearby ... what do you do with them? he wrote in an email. In the U.S. system, we have authorities that authorize military operations against them. The Iranians know that. Are they going to wait to be hit? Or will they hit first?

This is not a hypothetical scenario: For almost two decades Iran has expanded its influence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. In the process, it has had to operate close to American forces often as adversaries, but sometimes not.

And the designation raises legal issues, Nephew said.

What do we do if we capture IRGC officers somehow in Syria or Iraq? Do we turn them loose to the Iranians? They're terrorists! he wrote. And, what do the Iranians do if they capture U.S. terrorists in the Persian Gulf as they did in January 2016?

NBC News reached out to the Pentagon for comment.

Trump called the designation an unprecedented step that recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.

Those who opposed the Obama-era nuclear pact both in Washington and the capitals of U.S. allies in the Middle East allege it gave Iran cover to pursue its ballistic weapons program and deepen its influence in the region. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have warned for years of Irans growing power, and were bitterly disappointed when Obama negotiated it.

On the eve of pivotal elections in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday personally thanked Trump for the designation, as did Saudi Arabia.

But this week's announcement makes it less likely that Iran will accede to American demands and stop its pernicious activity in the region, according to Ilan Goldenberg, Middle East security director at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank in Washington.

The bottom line is the agreement was working, it was containing Irans nuclear program and we had total international support and unity around this issue, he said.

With the nuclear deal axed, that mechanism for the U.S. to address Irans behavior is no longer available.

Weve shattered all trust, Goldenberg said. You could have had a negotiation on ballistic missiles. You could have had a negotiation on regional behavior. You could have had negotiations on future additional nuclear agreements.

Sanctions against the Guard could also complicate any attempt by a future president to try to return the United States to the Iran deal, both advocates and critics of the move said.

This is part of a strategy by Iran hawks to layer on sanctions to make it more difficult for Democrats," a Republican congressional aide told NBC News when the designation was announced.

Several Democratic presidential candidates have said they favored having the United States re-enter the agreement, and the Democratic National Committee has said it supports a return to the deal.

F. Brinley Bruton reported from London, Ali Arouzi reported from Tehran, and Dan De Luce from Washington.

F. Brinley Bruton is a London-based senior editor for NBC News Digital. She focuses on news from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Ali Arouzi is NBC News' Tehran bureau chief and correspondent.

Dan De Luce, Associated Press and Reuters contributed.

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Designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard as terror group could ...

Formed in the wake of Iran's 1979 revolution, the deeply ideological IRGC was designated by Washington as a specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) and sanctioned under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in 2017.

Iran has been listed as a state sponsor of terror by the U.S. since 1984, and in 2007 its foreign operations wing, the Quds Force, was labeled an SDGT.

Many experts agree that the FTO label won't significantly deepen the impact that previous designations have already had. Inflation and unemployment in Iran are skyrocketing, with the sanctions compounding an economy long made stagnant by decades of mismanagement and corruption.

Oil exports, central to Iran's revenue, have dropped from around 2.5 million barrels a day before Trump's sanctions to just over 1 million per day now.

"The symbolism, however, is very important here," Vakil said. "The Trump administration is upping the ante in their maximum pressure campaign, because their policy as it stands today has yet to see any change in Iranian behavior."

In the past few years, Iranian-backed proxy activity in the Middle East including support for Houthi rebels in Yemen and for Bashar Assad's forces in Syria has only continued or increased.

See the article here:
Trump's terrorist designation of Iran's IRGC: The economic impact

Podcast, UnSpun Show

If you appreciate our research, please show your support!https://logosmedia.com/donate/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LogosMediaSend Bitcoin donations for this episode to: 12EQTDMzU5mxtEd8ZfyrHrxABZi3jtaCCo

Live on Tuesdays at 5pm Pacific time UnSpun 142 Colin Flaherty returns to discuss The Greatest Lie of Our Generation"

Colin Flaherty is an award winning reporter and author of the #1 best selling book Dont Make the Black Kids Angry: The hoax of black victimization and those who enable it.

His work has appeared in more than 1000 news sites around the world, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine. His story about how a black man was unjustly convicted of trying to kill his white girlfriend resulted in his release from state prison and was featured on Court TV, NPR, The Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune.He is also the author of White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore it.

Both books are about black mob violence, black on white crime and the Knockout Game and how public officials, reporters and activists deny, excuse, condone and encourage them.

https://www.colinflaherty.com/

Our previous interview:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shrXGcn3N_0

"Bitchute backup"https://www.bitchute.com/video/YkM9dxNIAnaW/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:30 66.4MB) | Embed

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UnSpun 142 Colin Flaherty: The Greatest Lie of Our ...

Colin Flaherty is an award winning writer whose work has been published in more than 1000 places around the globe, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, Washington Post, Bloomberg Business Week, Time magazine, and others.

He is the author of "White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence and How the Media Ignore It."

An #1Amazon Best Seller

Thomas Sowell: "Reading Colin Flaherty's book made painfully clear to me that the magnitude of this problem is greater than I had discovered from my own research. He documents both the race riots and the media and political evasions in dozens of cities." - National Review.

Bretibart.com: Prescient. Ahead of the News. Garnering attention and sparking important d

He is the author of "White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence and How the Media Ignore It."

An #1Amazon Best Seller

Thomas Sowell: "Reading Colin Flaherty's book made painfully clear to me that the magnitude of this problem is greater than I had discovered from my own research. He documents both the race riots and the media and political evasions in dozens of cities." - National Review.

Bretibart.com: Prescient. Ahead of the News. Garnering attention and sparking important discussions.

Allen West: At least author Colin Flaherty is tackling this issue (or racial violence) in his new book, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore it.

David Horowitz : A determined reporter, Colin Flaherty, broke ranks to document these rampages in a book titled, White Girl Bleed A Lot

Daily Caller : As the brutal knockout game sweeps across the U.S., one author isnt surprised by the attacks or the media reaction. Colin Flaherty, author of the book White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How The Media Ignore It, began chronicling the new wave of violence nearly a year ago revealing disturbing racial motivations behind the attacks and a pattern of media denial.

Alex Jones of Inforwars.com: "Brilliant. I could not put it down."

From the Bill Cunningham show. It is official: "A wonderful book. Colin Flaherty is a great American."

Neal Boortz: "ColinFlaherty has become Public Enemy No.1 to the leftist media because of the research he's done on the black culture of violence."

WND.com: "Colin Flaherty has done more reporting than any other journalist on what appears to be a nationwide trend of skyrocketing black-on-white crime, violence and abuse."

Milt Rosenberg, WGN: "My compliments to Colin Flaherty for White Girl Bleed a Lot. A very interesting book that points out an important problem that needs to be confronted."

The Houston Examiner said the book was "magic" because "it will give you clarity on why "flash mobs" are such a troublesome issue for American media, politicans and polite conversation."

Jason Lewis called it an "an important and explosive book."

Talk show host Jesse Lee Peterson said: "You must read this book."

Dan Auld, named top columnist of the year from both the San Diego Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists, said "This is a challenging book. An interesting and powerful and ultimately persuasive book by a great American writer not afraid to look at one of the most thought about but unspoken features of American life."

Scott Thompson of CHML radio said it was an "important and serious" book.

He is also the author of Redwood to Deadwood: a 53-year old dude hitchhikes around America. Again.

"Great book by a great guy" -- Marc Middleton, NPR.

"Ultimately, every travel book is a journey of self discovery. And so is this--much like Bill Byrson's A Walk in in the Woods, Keraouc's On the Road, or even Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: You feel as if you are there with him. And this book belongs on the same shelf.

"Great book by a great San American writer." -- John Sryker Meyer, author of the best selling Viet Nam book: "Across the Fence."

What the major media says about Colin Flaherty:

Washington Post.In June 2011, Colin Flaherty won First Place in the Washington Post Spy Novel Writer's contest. He is the only two-time winner.David Ignatius, best selling author and Washington Post editor, said Flaherty's writing was his "strong favorite," and was "very deft."

Said the Washington Post: "Ignatius was impressed by Flahe

Read the original:
Colin Flaherty (Author of White Girl Bleed a Lot) - Goodreads

It's "a source of pressure on the currency as it raises the risk that the government continues to be distracted by the elections" at a time when Ankara should be providing "more details around the fiscal program, plans to boost net (foreign exchange) reserves, transparency around the recap of the banking sector and inflation numbers needed to stabilize sentiment around Turkey," she told CNBC on Wednesday.

Erdogan has espoused keeping interest rates down despite rising inflation, currently at more than 19 percent. Investors fear he will continue to pursue populist monetary policy after his party's unprecedented defeat in the local elections.

But more than the election results themselves, it is the substance of an economic reform package that is needed to calm markets, experts say. That effort has so far not gone well.

Of note, an investor discussion with Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak during the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC last week received decidedly negative reviews.

Investors described Turkish officials as unprepared and lacking details, and a J.P. Morgan survey carried out during the event revealed that more than 80% of investors did not have confidence in Ankara's ability to turn things around.

Read more from the original source:
Turkey's economy is spiraling as Erdogan's AKP requests ...